Greenfield fibre group demands NBN clarity

Letters sent from a consortium of greenfield fibre providers to the National Broadband Network Company (NBN Co) requesting clarity on how the network will affect them appear to have fallen on deaf ears.

Letters sent from a consortium of greenfield fibre providers to the National Broadband Network Company (NBN Co) requesting clarity on how the network will affect them appear to have fallen on deaf ears.

The letters pertain to the NBN Co's pricing model. The group claims that the model appears to cut out local operators and the unbundling of backhaul costs.

The letters carry the names of six greenfield providers, including TransACT, Comverge, OPENetworks, Pivit, Service Elements and Broadcast Engineering Services, which together form the GreenField Operators Australia Group (GFOA). Together they service more than 300,000 connections and will service some 800,000 when current greenfield works are completed.

"They haven't even acknowledged to us ever receiving the letters," said OPENetworks strategy and legal counsel Michael Sparksman.

"They have not sought to meet us."

In a statement, NBN Co said that it cannot locate communication from GFOA requesting a meeting, but would welcome a discussion.

"We have an open and proactive engagement with all stakeholders in the greenfields sector and would certainly be happy to meet with any representative industry body, recognising that some detail of the greenfields requirement is yet to be worked out with government," the company said.

"[Communications Minister Stephen Conroy] will be making further policy announcements in the near future, and NBN Co's role is to implement government policy."

Sparksman said the group's mandate is to achieve clarity and equitable terms for greenfield providers.

"Our concerns are to ensure fair competition in greenfields where we have been operating for several years. All we ask for is fair competition.

"However, the NBN Co as a provider of last resort is nevertheless providing taxpayer funding for greenfield networks, and there is no clarity as to whether similar funding will be made to existing fibre greenfield operators who are prepared to operate on an open-access basis and provide the equivalent or better services to the NBN."

The GFOA will take the NBN Co to task on this and other contention points. It will request that: